Effect of Water Temperature (Celsius) on Glow Sticks.

http://partywirks.com/store/skate_world_waco/show_add_on/1546?add_on_id=1861

Broad Question

What is the effect of temperature on glow sticks?

Specific Question

What temperature will the glow stick glow the longest? 45 degrees, 35 degrees, 25 degrees, 15 degrees, and 5 degrees.


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Variables

Independent Variable:

Temperature (Celsius)

Dependent Variable:

Time (minutes)

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Same glow stick colors, how much water, same size glow sticks, and same brand glow sticks.

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that the glow stick will glow the longest in 45 degrees, then 35 degrees, 25 degrees, 15 degrees, then lastly 5 degrees water.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSiX9K0AnqWgra5tdvAm4hH1YnuT31e-QX2DmMQ1LAsc0XAtm5bLA

Graph of Hypothesis

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General Plan

Experimental Design

I will conduct my experiment at my house on my island in the kitchen.
I will be the only one involved with my experiment. If I need help my mom will probably help me with it. I will have five trials done for each temperature. I will put it directly on the computer. When I document my experiment I will type it on Google spreadsheet and record it down on a piece of paper, then I will take pictures of the experiment and email them to my science teacher.

Materials List

1.Glow Sticks.
2.Digital Camera.
3. Stopwatch.
4. Container to hold the glow stick in.
5. Computer.
6. Pencil.

Detailed Procedure

1. Get the Glow sticks
2. Fill the liquid measuring cup with water and check the temperature with the thermometer.
3. Put the glow stick in the water and time it with the stopwatch until it stops glowing.
4. record the data on the spreadsheet.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 five times for each temperature 45 degrees Celsius, 35 degrees Celsius, 25 degrees Celsius, 15 degrees Celsius, and 5 degrees Celsius.

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Background Research

Glow Sticks are plastic tubes with different chemicals inside of the plastic tube that creates a glow of light for a certain amount of time. The light is created by a bunch of chemicals mixed together without a electrical source. The chemicals that makes the glow stick glow are Diphenyl Oxalate and Hydrogen Peroxide. When you mix these two chemicals it causes a reaction and then produces Peroxyacid Ester and Phenol. With the reaction of this it releases the energy that excites that atoms in the florescent die and that causes it to release particles of light called Photons. Glow sticks have two plastic containers in them a small and fragile one is in side of the outer more larger container. When the plastic is bent the fragile one inside breaks and then mixes the chemicals together.
It takes the glow stick colors that are six inches long Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green six hours to finally stop glowing. It takes four hours for the colors Aqua, Dark Blue, and Pink to stop glowing. It takes three and a half hours for a Purple glow stick to go out. For glow sticks that are eight inches long it takes Red, Orange, Yellow, Green eight hours to finally stop glowing. It takes seven hours for the Aqua to stop glowing and six hours for Dark Blue and Pink to stop glowing. Then it takes four and a half for the Purple to stop glowing.
When you freeze a glow stick it slows down the glow sticks chemical reaction so it can be kept for two or three nights at a time. Also if you heat up a glow stick by putting it in hot water or microwaving it, by microwaving it or running it through hot water speeds up the Photon release and makes them brighter. But it also shortens the life of the glow stick. Keeping a glow stick in room temperature makes it last for hours but not as long as putting it in a freezer.
Light is like a wave or like ripples on a lake. Photons are packets of energy. So when the Photons are mixed in and having a reaction with the other chemicals it sends light waves through the glow stick to start lighting it up wen you bend the glow stick.

References

"www.all-science-fair-projects.com/category38.tml." http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com. Web. 1 Jan. 2011.
"www.all-science-fair-projects.com/category38.tml." http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com. Web. 1 Jan. 2011.

"http://extremeglow.com/Merchant4/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=GLOWSTICKFACTS." http://extremeglow.com. Web. 1 Jan. 2012.
Energy. Hudson Street New York City, NY: Dorling Kindersly, 2000. Print.

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Results

Data Table

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

The purpose of this experiment was to find out which temperature water glow sticks glow the longest in. I put glow sticks in a bucket of water in a certain temperature of water and and see how long it lasted. The results of the experiment were that The glow sticks lasted the longest in twenty five degree Celsius water. Then it was forty five, five degrees, fifteen, and finally thirty five. It took many hours to complete this experiment.

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Discussion

My hypothesis was that glow sticks will last the longest in 45 degree water, followed by 35, 25, 15, and 5. My results did not support my hypothesis. I think the test I did went smoothly, I timed each one of the glow sticks and when one of the glow sticks stopped glowing I refilled the water in the tub and put a new glow stick in and restarted the time. If I could improve my experiment I would have chosen to have done it on a longer period of time. This is because it took hours to complete. If I ever do this experiment again I would like to see which color last the longest, instead of the temperatures.